Mikey's Ghia Thread...

[Mikey]

Thanks for the comments.

Thanks panel, I have made a few steps back here and there to made things better, or improve their function. The water lines are a great example of an idea or design I really liked that proved to not to be the best.

Steve,
I did consider using 1-1/2" pipe for the coolant lines. I actually had 1-1/2" pipe from the start. But the original location of the coolant lines were simply not practical for the location of the engine coolant hoses and the radiator.
The original design was a pipe on each side of the tunnel.

Since the engine's coolant lines were only on the passenger side. The decision was made to just put the coolant lines on the passenger side.

Then I had to decide on a size. 1-1/2 seemed a little big to me. I asked around my work for opinions on the size of the coolant hose. I was under the assumtion that a larger pipe would have more volume but less pressure. So the smaller pipe 1" would have less volume but more pressure. I'm also counting on the coolant pipes under the car to act as a second radiator. That is why I welded the two together. I even placed rubber pads under the pipe to help hold the pipes off the chassis so air can circulate all the way around the pipes. The fact that 20AN fittings cost more than twice as much as 16AN fittings helped me choose 16AN. And given the restriciton in space under the chassis, 1" seemed to fit better. In the end my decision to use 16AN is a balance between, size, location, cost, and maybe a little trial and error to keep it interesting.

Sorry, I tried to make my answer to the point without missing many details.

New progress.
I had to reshoot the trunk, I used a late model bug master cylinder bowl bracket to hold the mc bowl. I used pop rivits to hold the bracket in place.

Another shot, I just set the tank in for the picture. It still needs refinishing.

I would have bleed the brakes today but I need brake light switches.

Thanks again for the comments. I'm really excited to get to drive this thing soon.